Geological Society of America
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It has been an eventful spring. Listed below are some of the events that have occurred, as well as a listing of future events and items relevant to the activities of our division. Mary C. Rabbitt Award On May 1, 2011, by decision of GSA Council, the Mary C. Rabbitt Award has been given to Sally Newcomb. Sandra Herbert proposed Sally for the Rabbitt Award. Sally was recommended by the Awards Committee of the History and Philosophy of Geology Division (Greg Good, chair, Davis Young, and William Brice), and their recommendation was unanimously approved by the management board of the Division. The Rabbitt Award was given to Sally Newcomb in recognition of years of publication in the history of geology, and especially in recognition of her monograph The world in a crucible: Laboratory practice and geological theory at the beginning of geology. The Geological Society of America, Special Paper 449, 204 pp. This monograph, her most recent scholarly achievement, is rightly admired, not least by those familiar with the difficult and comparatively little-studied problems it treats. By shedding light on an aspect of geology’s history that few have ventured to explore, this book represents an important step forward and makes a significant contribution to our field. It culminates well over two decades of research contributions Sally has made, through articles and book chapters, to historical understanding of the roles played by experiment and chemical knowledge during crucial phases of geological science’s founding period. In addition to her exemplary research contributions, Sally has been extraordinarily active in fostering fruitful activity in history of geology, by arranging sessions and meetings, and animating group activities. Please mark your calendars for proposals for next year’s Mary C. Rabbitt Award. The deadline for nominations is February 1, 2012. Please see the HAPG Division website for a description of the materials to include in a complete nomination file ( http://gsahist.org/hapg_award/awards.htm ). Gerald M. and Sue T. Friedman History of Geology Distinguished Service Award On February 24, 2011, the Awards Committee of the History and Philosophy of Geology Division of the Geological Society of America recommended that Cliff Nelson be given the Gerald M. and Sue T. Friedman History of Geology Distinguished Service Award. Their recommendation was unanimously approved shortly thereafter by the management board of the HAPG Division. In their report, the Awards Committee recognized the extraordinary service that Cliff Nelson has contributed over the decades on behalf of the history of geology generally and of the History and Philosophy of Geology Division especially. He served as secretary-treasurer, newsletter editor, vice chairman, and chairman of the History of Geology Division of GSA from 1976‐88; he chaired the US Committee for History of Geology at the NRC from 1985-90; he is a fellow of GSA, and a member of HESS and HSS. In the spirit of the Gerald M. and Sue T. Friedman Distinguished Service Award, Cliff Nelson was chosen as an excellent exemplar of service to the community of historians of geology. Please mark your calendars for proposals for next year’s Friedman Distinguished Service Award. The deadline for nominations is February 1, 2012. Please see the HAPG Division website for a description of the materials to include in a complete nomination file ( http://gsahist.org/hapg_award/awards.htm ). Student Award The Awards Committee is currently reviewing applications from several strong candidates for the Student Award. This year the Student Award was advertised in GSA Today, GSA Connections, and Eos, and those ads were effective in attracting highly qualified applicants. The application deadline was May 1, 2011. The Student Award application form, and the guidelines for the Student Award are available on the HAPG Division website ( http://gsahist.org/hapg_award/awards.htm ). Stay tuned for the announcement of the Student Award winner in the next issue of the HAPG Division Newsletter. As approved by the HAPG Division membership and GSA Council, the amount of the Student Award has now been increased from $500 to $1000. Changes to Division Bylaws In March of 2011 the following ballot measure was distributed to the HAPG Division membership: “The Management Board of the History and Philosophy of Geology Division is recommending a change to the Division Bylaws in order to increase the amount of the Student Award from its current amount of $500 to the new amount of $1000. The larger amount reflects the increased costs incurred by student awardees attending the GSA annual meeting. The Student Award will continue to be funded by the Mary C. Rabbitt endowment. Furthermore, the Management Board of the History and Philosophy of Geology Division is recommending a change to the Division Bylaws to move the nomination deadline date for the Mary C. Rabbitt Award in the History of Geology, and the Gerald M. and Sue T. Friedman History of Geology Distinguished Service Award, forward from the current April 1 deadline date to a February 1 deadline date. This change is necessitated by the earlier timing of the GSA Council spring meeting where the proposed awards recipients are approved by Council. Furthermore, the Management Board of the History and Philosophy of Geology Division is recommending a change to the Division Bylaws so that the Award Selection Committee present the names of the top candidates to the Management Board by March 15 rather than the current date of April 15. Again, this change is necessitated by the earlier timing of the GSA Council spring meeting where the proposed award recipients are approved by Council.” Voting closed March 25, 2011, and there was unanimous support for the proposed changes (n = 49). GSA 2011 Minneapolis - Topical Session At the 2011 GSA Annual Meeting in Minneapolis, the History and Philosophy of Geology Division is sponsoring a Topical Session entitled: International collaboration and the evolution of geology The session is being organized by John Diemer and Ken Aalto. A description of the topical session follows: As the science of geology evolved it was at first by necessity largely a local endeavor. However, with the development of scientific societies, professional journals, government surveys and enhanced forms of travel and communication in the 19th century, new advances made in one region rapidly spread internationally. The impacts of this evolving infrastructure for undertaking and disseminating geologic research, as well as the products of collaboration between geologists from different regions, will be explored in this topical session. Of special interest will be transatlantic and trans-European collaborations that led to the spread of geologic advances before and during the 19th century. You are invited to submit an abstract on any topic addressing the impacts of international collaboration on the evolution of geology. If interested, please contact: John Diemer Department of Geography and Earth Sciences University of North Carolina at Charlotte Charlotte, NC 28223 jadiemer@uncc.edu (704) 687-5994 (704) 687-5966 (fax) or Ken Aalto Department of Geology Humboldt State University 264 Driftwood Lane Trinidad, CA 95570 kra1@humboldt.edu (707) 677-0639 (707) 826-5241 (fax) Please note that the abstract deadline is July 26, 2011. Early submissions are welcomed. GSA 2011 Minneapolis - Pardee Symposium Also at the 2011 GSA Annual Meeting in Minneapolis , the History and Philosophy of Geology Division is a co-sponsor of a Pardee Symposium. The Pardee Symposium will honor the British Geologist Arthur Holmes (1890-1965) for Contributions to Geochronology, Plate Tectonics, and the Origin of Granite, and is described below: The British geologist Arthur Holmes (1890 – 1965) was a pioneer of geochronology, who performed the first radiometric dating by the U-Pb method to measure the age of a rock. In 1910, while still an undergraduate at the Royal College of Science (now Imperial College) in London, Holmes determined the age of a Devonian igneous rock from Norway to be 370 Ma. This result was published in the Proceedings of the Royal Society a century ago in 1911 (“The Association of Lead with Uranium in Rock-Minerals, and Its Application to the Measurement of Geological Time”, Series A 85: 248–256, 1911). Then in 1913, Holmes published the now-famous booklet The Age of the Earth, which established him as the world’s authority on geochronology. After receiving his PhD in 1917 and spending some time as Chief Geologist for an oil company in Burma, Holmes was appointed in 1924 to the position of Reader in Geology at Durham University. In 1928, Holmes suggested that slow-moving convection cells in the Earth’s mantle could be a physical mechanism to explain how the then unpopular theory of continental drift might work. He also made significant contributions to understanding the petrogenesis of granite. Eighteen years later, he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1942 for his broad contributions to geology and a year later was appointed to the chair of geology at Edinburgh University, which he held until retirement in 1956. His second famous book Principles of Physical Geology was published in 1944. In 1956, Holmes was awarded both the Wollaston Medal and the Penrose Medal, the highest awards granted by the Geological Society of London and Geological Society of America. The Arthur Holmes Medal of the European Geosciences Union is named in his honor, as is the Durham University Department of Earth Sciences' “Arthur Holmes Isotope Geology Laboratory" and Durham University students' “Arthur Holmes Geology Society.” Arthur Holmes is one of the most prominent people in the history of the earth sciences. He is considered the 'father' of modern geochronology and a 'giant' of 20th-century geology. Thus, it is only fitting that his scientific contributions be recognized through a Pardee symposium that will bring together eminent scholars from around the world to review his important contributions to geochronology, granite petrogenesis and the development of the continental crust, and to discuss how that legacy is still influencing current research and thought across a broad spectrum of the earth sciences. This Pardee Symposium will bring together eminent earth scientists from around the world to review the important contributions of Arthur Holmes to geochronology, granite petrogenesis, and the development of the continental crust, and to discuss how that legacy is still influencing current research. GSA 2011 Minneapolis - History and Philosophy of Geology Disciplinary Session(s) The 2011 GSA Annual meeting in Minneapolis is taking place from October 9 – 12, 2011. As customary, we hope to have sufficient papers of a diverse nature to fill and run a disciplinary session in the History and Philosophy of Geology. Please make plans to attend the 2011 GSA Annual meeting, and to submit abstracts in any field of the history and philosophy of geology. Remember that the abstract due date is July 26, 2011. History and Philosophy of Geology Division Logo The Geological Society of America is currently in the process of reviewing and revising logos of the various sections and divisions in preparation of the 125th anniversary in 2013. GSA would like those logos to be in the same style in order to strengthen the brand of GSA. We, as a Division, have the opportunity to devise a new logo for our Division which fits the newly established guidelines. Ken Aalto has prepared a possible new logo, which appears as the image below:  The management board of the HAPG division welcomes suggestions for alternative logos. If you would like to submit an alternative, please contact Jane Davidson, Secretary-Treasurer of HAPG Division, (jdhexen@unr.edu). She can supply you with the GSA guidelines for preparing the new logo. The submission of possible new logos is due by July 1, 2011. The Management Board of the Division will then select the new logo for submission to GSA. Thanks for your input! Bob Dott Winner of AGI Award Congratulations to Bob Dott who has been awarded the prestigious Marcus Milling Legendary Geoscientist Medal by the American Geological Institute (AGI).
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